Overall, I thought the true moral of the story was not running of for love, but rather the danger of oversheltering young women. Children need to make mistakes to learn from them, but Charlotte was never given the chance, locked away in her boarding school. Her teacher failed to watch over her properly, and the weak-minded Charlotte succumbed to peer pressure. I actually felt the woman who kicked Charlotte out would have been perfectly justified if Charlotte had not been pregnant and it had not been midwinter. But lives for the humble and honest were hard back them, particularly in over-taxed America, where the well-spoken British officers could force them to shelter and feed them with no recompense.
I myself am writing a fantasy novel in which a young woman has a child out of wedlock, but it has a far better ending.
Learning in the Age of the Trigger Warning
11 years ago
I agree with you about the part on children having to make mistakes for themselves, but only to a certain extent. I think that if someone else has made a mistake and not me i want to learn from there mistake so i don't suffer like they did. I used to have this motto saying "oh it wont happen to me" when actually it did and my consequence was like ten times worse. From then on if someone says don't do it i am the first to say okay and i turn and walk the other way. On the other hand experience is how most learn right form wrong. When you personally go through something you learn the best on how not to make it happen agian.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy the way you phrased your opening remark about the true moral here, "the danger of over-sheltering young women." I absolutely agree and think that Rowson does a wonderful job of depicting a demure creature; her readers cannot help but pity her and blame others for her mess. I find it very interesting to reflect on how this issue still presents itself in today's society. For example, I find abstinence-only education to be a case of sheltering. If we don't inform youth what the consequences of their actions will be, we succeed in nothing more than invoking their curiosities. Rowson's moral, as you expressed it, is still applicable even today!
ReplyDeleteBecca